Guides here say there are only three such caves in the world -- the two others are in Venezuela and Peru -- where the rare nocturnal guacharos, or oilbirds, scream loudly all day.
In one such cave (Tham Khuyen), Gigantopithecus and Homo teeth occur in the same deposits, dated as recently as 475,000 years ago.
With 25 miles (40 km) of passages on five levels, it is the largest of the many such caves dissolved out in the horizontally bedded Mississippian limestones that extend southward into the cave-bearing regions of Kentucky and Tennessee.
A coiled basket, preserved in the dry darkness of one of Utah's desert caves, is dated 7000 B.C. We learn of the discovery of one such cave in 1938, by the archaeologist Julian Steward, who found 248 moccasins dating back almost a millennium.
In such settings, mapping cave networks and monitoring ground stability is important to assure civil safety and guide future infrastructure development decisions.
As to riveting images, here are a few: the heavily armed samurai literally stopping to 'smell' the cherry blossoms; Gautama leaving his renouncer's cave in such haste that he struggles not to lose a sandal; a farm boy carrying a bundle of hay while reading a book with rapt attention.
He tells of captives in a deep cave, chained in such a way that all they have seen their entire lives are the monstrous shadows on the back wall, made by people passing in front of the fire behind them.
The Pacific swift is a colonial species which nests in sheltered locations such as caves, crevices in vertical rock faces (including sea-cliffs), or under the eaves of houses.
The west landing, which is situated in such a geo, terminates in a cave.
The RAF has started equipping its Reaper UAVs with a new thermobaric rocket – a deadly anti-personnel air-fuel weapon that ignites the air in enclosed spaces, such as caves and compounds.
